Melbourne drops in student ranking

Melbourne is again ranked the best Australian city for students, but its world rank has fallen from the second to fifth.

The 2017 QS Best Student Cities Ranking places Melbourne the fifth-best student city around the world, Melbourne’s lowest ranking since 2014.

Six other Australian cities, including Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast, are among the world’s top 80 cities for students.

Montreal tops the list this year, followed by Paris, London and Seoul.

Australian cities obtained lower scores in the “Affordability” category due to the ever-increasing living costs and tuition fees, which also contributes to a year-on-year drop in rankings for Australia.

“Student View” is a new category in this year’s assessment. The scores are calculated based on qualitative responses on studying experiences from 18,000 students.

Melbourne scores well in the “Student View” category and boasts the highest mark in the “Student Mix” category with the most diverse student population in the world.

Melbourne’s “Desirability” score is also particularly high, an indicator of outstanding quality of life and intense popularity as a student destination.

In Melbourne, more students are employed after graduation compared with other Australian cities.